For Muslims in Ekiti state, they would seem to be a beam of hope after years of lamentation and being overlooked by successive governments as a Muslim finally is appointed as Secretary to the State Government (SSG).
The new Governor, Biodun Oyebanji on Sunday announced the appointment of Dr. Habibat Omolara Adubiaro, the Amirah (President), Federation of Muslim Women’s Association of Nigeria, Ekiti State Chapter, as the SSG.
Dr. Adubiaro’s appointment comes after several years of agitation from the State’s Muslim community over what they called “marginalisation and exclusion of their members from administration”.
They described the maltreatment of Muslims by previous governments as “worrisome, unjust, condemnable and unacceptable.”
In this report, Muslim News chronicles how about 40% Muslims population have been represented since Nigeria’s transformation from military to civilian rule in 1999…
1999: Mr. Afolabi Ojuawo, a Christian was named SSG by Otunba Niyi Adebayo, who was the first democratically elected governor of Ekiti State when Nigeria transitioned from military to democratic rule in 1999.
2003: Mr. Ayodele Fayose defeated the incumbent Governor Niyi Adebayo in the 2003 gubernatorial election. By the time he was forming his cabinet, he followed the same path by appointing an evangelist, late Adeola Alofe, who died in 2019, aged 86.
2007: Ditto with Mr. Olusegun Oni, who was governor of the State from 2007 to 2010. He appointed Ambassador Dare Bejide, a former Nigerian Ambassador to Canada, as the SSG. He is a Christian.
2010: Mr. Kayode Fayemi was the first governor of the state to appoint a Muslim as SSG, in person of Alhaji (Dr.) Ganiyu Owolabi, a veterinary doctor who hails from Ilupeju Ekiti in Oye Local Government Area of the State.
2014: When Gov. Fayose returned for a second term as Ekiti Governor, he appointed Dr. (Mrs) Modupe Alade, a Christian, as the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), ignoring the agitation of the Muslim community, who have been marginalised in the State.
In 2018: Gov. Fayemi, who appointed a Muslim as SSG during his first term in office didn’t hesitate to appoint Mr. Abiodun Oyebanji, a Christian, as SSG. His was among the first appointments made by the governor.
Both Oyebanji and the Chief Press Secretary, CPS, Mr. Yinka Oyebode, aren’t Muslims.
Also, Governor Fayemi had the opportunity to appease the Muslims by appointing a Muslim as SSG in 2022, following the resignation of Mr. Oyebanji who was then contesting for Governor. He didn’t do that, instead, he appointed a new SSG, Mr. Foluso Daramola, who is also an evangelist.
Mr. Oyebanji, who eventually won the guber race in June 2022, and sworn in on Sunday, October 16, 2022 has made history by appointing the second Muslim as the SSG in the last 23 years of Ekiti democratic dispensation, correcting the wrongs of his predecessors.
